Story: Clannad: After Story follow Tomoya Okazaki in the events following Clannad. The early episodes of the show take place when Tomoya is still in high school, and it includes all of his friends from Clannad. Because of this the style is very similar to Clannad in that it is somewhat a slice of life comedy. Though this part of the story is not bad per say and can actually be funny at times, it falls short with some of the humor and also goes into the backstory of some minor characters that get a little too much face time though you could care less about their back story as they aren't that important. However, not all of these episodes are subpar as we get to see some back story from Sunohara and Tomoya which was completely absent in Clannad though it was hinted at. Eventually the story transitions to life after high school and is much more of a drama than comedy. The story now follows Tomoya tries to build a family and get his life together. It is truly a great coming of age story and this portion of Clannad: After Story is what I would consider perfect. The plot is great, the characters continue to grow as new one are introduced, and yes, crying will happen.
Art: This is the total weak point of the show. The color is nice but, for the most part, the backgrounds are bland and the characters could look better. For one, their eyes are HUGEMONGUS (yes i just made that a word) and their hair all look similar (apart from the color). There are some beautiful segments like in the alternate world and the art isn't terrible, it is just the weakest link for the show.
Sound: The soundtrack is great and the ending theme is incredible. However, there are parts where the song overpowers what is happening on screen. Also, some of the songs are extremely overplayed. Though these songs are good, they still draw away from the experience sometimes.
Character: There are so many great and memorable characters that you find yourself cheering for five or six of them. You could almost make a separate show for many of them. However, as mentioned earlier, there are times where backstory is given for characters that aren't important to anything and don't need to be given a backstory. You'll be given one or two episodes with that minor character as the main character and all you can do is wait for more of Nagisa and Tomoya. This is an acceptable norm in anime, but it takes away from one of the best parts of the anime which is in fact the characters.
Overall: Clannad: After Story is a must watch. Even though the early episodes don't quite stack up with the rest of the show, they are still very enjoyable. The story of Tomoya building a family is truly one of the best in anime and will bring you to tears (if you are a human anyways). The only four issues I have are minor and don't take away too much from this anime though they keep it from being a 10. The minor characters sometimes get a little too much attention, the art could stand to be better, After Story wouldn't be very good unless you watch Clannad, and the ending feels like a cop out just to make everything happy. Knowing these four things going in will make this one of the greatest shows you ever seen. It definitely deserves all of the praise it has gotten.
